Astrid Ryterband, B.A., M.A., was born in Berne, Switzerland and is the daughter of Clara De Lazzari, who was born in Venice, Italy, and Roman Ryterband (Ritterband), a neoclassical composer born in Lodz, Poland. Astrid's parents and sister, Diana, emigrated to Montreal, then lived in Chicago for seven years before settling in Palm Springs, California. While in Chicago, Astrid heard and watched her father create art on the piano every day. Discovering her own voice, she taught herself to sing in the lobby of their apartment building, which had the perfect sound system: a powerful, natural echo.
Finding grammar school uninteresting, she would fulfill her passion for reading by walking some 15 blocks to the public library after finishing her homework to check out as many books per week. As a teenager she begin to write popular songs on the piano while living in Palm Springs.
In New York she wrote and composed the musical, Greta D. and the IRS. While living in Los Angeles, she wrote novels and screenplays and began teaching English, a most rewarding ongoing experience. "Teaching is more than just having a command of the subject, it's about respecting students as people who are in need of raising their writing skills so that they can succeed in college and have a higher quality of life."
Astrid has traveled to Europe and Asia, performed in Japanese cabarets and New York City clubs, as well as in the Philippines. In the last ten years, she's performed her one woman shows: ASTRID DOES LIZA and I LOVE YOU, MARILYN!, the latter adding ventriloquism to her list of Renaissance talents.
She has published several books including, THE RETURN OF THE MATADOR, LEGERELLA, and OUT OF THE SILENTS, and has several television credits in animation. Lately, she is in the process of selling her new book, An Aria for her Soul, a generational novel of two tenors in Venice, Italy and the women in their lives. She is currently writing Alice In Fernoland, a futuristic version of Alice in Wonderland, and a trilogy, Sequena, which takes place in outer space.